Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Thursday the government would aim to reduce inflation to 9 percent and target a GDP growth of 6 percent for next year.

Vietnam's consumer price index rose 18.13 percent in 2011, according to data released by the government's General Statistics Office Friday. On a month-on-month basis, the CPI inched up 0.53 percent in December.

Dung said the government is determined to tame inflation, even though the task of bringing down inflation to single digits is considered a challenging one.

"Usually consumer prices would rise in final months of the year, but we have managed to keep the monthly increase of the CPI at 0.53 percent, which will serve as a good precondition to keep the index under 10 pecent in 2012 as targetted by the National Assembly," he told a meeting in Hanoi.

At the meeting, many provincial and city leaders called for the government to help businesses solve credit difficulties and prevent bankruptcies that could hurt the economy.

Nguyen The Thao, chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, said the government needs to lower interest rates. Otherwise, businesses would struggle and many jobs could be affected, he said.

He also said the government should also review its tax and land use policies to support businesses further.